


The Sailor and The Story Teller

by JeanFi



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Long-Distance Relationship, Navy, Romance, Sweet, military romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2015-11-12
Packaged: 2018-05-01 05:56:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5194685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeanFi/pseuds/JeanFi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Petty Officer Rance drives head on into this one.  He never saw a budding relationship coming out of nowhere crashing right in front of him!  Literally!<br/>Claire is a children's story book author. Foremost on her mind is her cat Shadow who inspires her stories, but on her way to an event, the rain spoils her day.  Or does it?</p><p>The last thing he needs right now is to fall in love while he is on a covert design mission.  The last thing she needs is a long distance relationship.  But the heart wants what the heart wants, it's impossible to stop it from longing for another. So you find a way to make it work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to Heather and Kyndra. Two sweet authors with wonderful senses of humors and have their own original works of art out in the world. Plus understand what fuzzballs do to our hearts.
> 
> * If my Military information is not precise, I hope i have not offended, but if anything honored.

    The 2004  ocean blue-green Corvette was zigging and zagging around the cars spinning out all over the Maryland freeway before it found a safe place to pull over at least a quarter mile in front of the accident.  Quickly the driver gasped and checked to make sure all his body parts were still intact.  Then he grabs his cell phone and sprints out into the driving rain.  
    The puddles are deep he is sloshing through in his military issue shoes.  The bell bottom cuffs are soaking up more of the puddle water than is helpful.  He chides himself, “I’d have better luck swimming through this!”  But he keeps sloshing.  
    He comes to the scene of the wreckage.  A short haul soda semi-truck is jack knifed across three lanes of traffic.  Wedged underneath is a Triumph.  The driver is shocked but waves that he is okay.  He points to the back end of a white car.  Rance moves towards the white trunk.  He is almost afraid to look.  His guts start quivering.  He can see the red of transmission fluid and the green of antifreeze mixing in the puddles of his feet along with gasoline.  The rain is still coming down in sheets.  Rance slides across the hood of the Nissan pickup truck smashed up against the driver’s door of the soda truck with its bed pinning the hood of the Lancer against the median wall.  The gardening truck pinching the Nissan’s bed against the Lancer’s engine.  Rance motions to the truck drivers to cut their engines with a hand to his throat and the showing his keys.  They nod and do so.        
    Rance is now completely soaked as he comes around the bent nose of the soda truck.  The Mitsubishi Lancer is crushed against the median wall with the nose of the soda truck is against both the front and back doors of the Lancer  He can see the driver is now shoved to what is left of the center of the car.  The woman, in her early thirties, is conscious and dazed.    
    He leans into the shattered driver’s window and calls to her,  “Ma’m, are you alright?”  
    She squints up at him, “What planet am I on?”  He tilts his head curiously.  “I feel like I just got shot to Neptune.”  He smiles at her sense of humor.  
    “Let me call Starfleet.  I’m not sure.”  He smiles back.  She slowly gives him a thumbs up.    
    He backs out of the car and hears the tearing of fabric.  He groans, there goes his uniform.  Too late now, and looks around.  Neither the Nissan driver or the soda driver are going anywhere with the gardening truck and trailer crunched up against the Nissan’s rear end and boxing off the other side of the median emergency lane.  
    “Hey Popeye!”  Rance looks up to the smiling soda driver.  Rance cocks him a confused eyebrow.  The Soda driver, easily over two hundred pounds waves his puffy company jacket out the window, “Put this around the lady.  If not to fight off shock, to keep her dry.”  Rance catches it with a nod.  He turns back to the Lancer.  
    Ever so carefully he leans through the broken glass with the jacket.  He tries brushing some of the glass away scratching up his hands.  The woman is wearing a sea foam green dress with pink and blue sea creatures printed on it.  Even her necklace and earrings of painted scallop shells go with her dress.  He shakes his head, “Hey there, Mermaid.  The soda driver wants you to stay warm until we can get you back into deeper water.”  He helps get the jacket tucked around her.  
    “Mermaid?”  She asks him.    
    He shrugs down at his attire.  “It the only women I have time for.”  She starts to laugh, but then stops suddenly with the pinch in her side.  Fear crosses her face.  He can’t reach her hand but he can get a knuckle to her cheek.  “Hold still.  Help is on the way.”  
    “Coast Guard?”  She smiles back with a quivering lip as the rain starts to come down even harder through the shattered sunroof.  
    He winks to her in reference to his own division’s ship and their space joke, “Enterprise.”  
    She leans her cheek against this hand, “I am not dressed for NASA.”  He pulls back shaking his head.  Tears leak down her smiling cheeks.  
    “Hold on, Ariel.  It’s going to be alright.”  She just nods.  
    Rance turns back around.  He can hear horns honking and another crunch.  Triumph-man is getting out of his little car and stretches.  He motions to Rance that he is fine.  Rance goes to the Nissan, “Do you have a cell?”  
    Nissan shakes his head, “Somewhere on the floor board.  My legs are fine, I just can’t get them out.”  
    Rance hands him his phone, “Call 911.  Tell them what we’ve got.  Tell them it’s bad.  We need a bunch of tow trucks.  We‘ve got a thirty year old woman possible with internal injuries.”  Nissan nods and calls right away.  
    “Popeye!”  Rance turns back to Soda Driver.  “I radioed dispatch.  They’ve got a truck coming for me.  Do you want some help getting this traffic diverted around us?  I can make it out the other way.”  
    Rance nods, “That sounds good!”  
    Triumph and Soda Driver begin directing traffic down the slow lane.  Soda Driver had flares in his rig, so he was able to get some things set up.  They had to get the traffic moving, if for no other reason, to get the emergency vehicles through.  
    After Rance helped Triumph and Soda Driver get started by shoving some other derelict cars off to the side, he went back to the Lancer.  He can hear the news choppers hovering overhead.  That certainly made things more difficult for him to hear the mermaid.  
    He reaches into the car.  She is starting to close her eyes when he returns.  He taps her shoulder, “Hey Ariel.  Wake up.  McCoy is going to want to know what hurts.”  She turns her face to him and manages to get a hand towards him.  He holds her hand.  “What’s your name?”  He tries again.  
    “Claire.  You?”  
    “Nope, not Claire.  Try again.”  He smiles.  Then he hears a strange sound from what is left of her back seat.  “Have you got a badger in here?”  
    She gasps, “Shadow!”  She tries to move but he leans in further, tearing his dark sailor’s uniform, holding her shoulders steady.  
    “Whoa!  Hold still Claire.  What is Shadow?”  Then he hears the scared “Meow?”  He looks around the backseat.  He sees the cat carrier has been shoved out of his reach.  He can see the little black nose pressing against the crate door.  
    “What am I going to do?!  I know I have to go to the hospital.  But Shadow!  What will--”  The sirens of the ambulance and state police cut her words off.  
    He grips her shoulders comfortingly, “I’ll take care of the cat.  You take care of you.  Don’t fret.  Alright.  Stay with me.  Say calm.”  She nods.    
    Then he hears the tow truck pull up too.  A police officer comes over.  Rance squeezes her hand and then backs out of the car with another rip to his uniform.  He smiles at the officer, “Hello.  This is Claire.  She hasn’t moved.  She’s been very good.”    
    The officer nods, “I’ll take it from here.”  
    Claire calls out, “Wait!  Scotty!  You gotta beam me outa here!!”  She tries to tease him but her voice holds a bit of fear to it.  
    The officer smiles and shakes his head.  Rance shrugs.  The officer looks around, “Stay with her until the EMT’s got her.  Alright?  Then I need a statement.  Okay?”  Rance just nods.  The officer turns back to help get some of the cars out of the way so they can get Claire out.  
    The soda truck’s tow comes quickly and gets his truck out of the way.  The driver steps aside and gives the officer a statement, along with the Triumph.  The Triumph and Lancer had both hydroplaned.  The soda truck tried to stay out of their way.  Things just went sideways from there.    
    As soon as the soda truck was out of the way, the ambulance took it’s place.  Rance was focused on talking to Claire that when a hand touches his shoulder he jumps.  Claire smiles.  Rance backs out of the broken window again tearing his uniform in the sleeve this time.  He looks up to the EMT and beams.  
    “Jeeze Scotty, scared the be-jeepers out of me,”  Rance shakes his head at his friend.  
    Claire stares at him, “Please tell me you are kidding?”  
    Rance laughs and thumbs towards Claire but speaks to Scotty, “Alright Scotty, beam her out of here.”  
    “One of these days--” Scotty threatens to punch Rance.  
    “Yeah, well until then, you have a patient,”  Rance saves the humiliation for later.  The fire department shows up right behind the ambulance.  With Rance’s help, they get the car cut away and a backboard in the car.  Claire is carefully extracted.  She calls to him once more as they start to shove her into the back of the ambulance, “Hey space cadet!”  
    Rance  turns to her, brushing the glass from the collar of his uniform, “Yeah?”  
    “Shadow.  Can you grab my briefcase too!  I can’t let it get soaked or crushed.”  
    He looks back at the tin can that was once a car, “Oh, now you are worried about it getting crushed?  Your timing stinks.”  
    She reaches a hand out, “Yeah, but yours was pretty good.”  
    Scotty can’t help but bat his eyes at Rance and give him a moon-eyed face.  Rance sticks his tongue out at Scotty, “I have a more dashing uniform than yours.  So there!”  
    The police office calls to the EMT team, “Get ‘em out of here.  We got a huge mess to clean up.”  
    Scotty closes up the back of the ambulance and Rance turns back to the mashed Lancer.  He finds the brief case/portfolio and the cat carrier.  He talks nicely to the cat, “Hey Shadow.  My name is Rance and I will be your chauffer today.  So just sit back and relax.”  A whimpering mew comes from the cage again.    
    Just as he turns around,  Nissan, just now being cut from his truck calls out, “Hey, Brice!”  
    Rance had completely forgot about his phone, “A Chief Mitchell called wondering where you were.  I told him what was going on.  He said you better be at a your base by noon or you were going to be in--”  
    “Yeah, I got it,”  Rance cringes.  Nissan tosses him the phone.  Some how he managed to catch it against his chest and not drop the cases.  He dashes off to his Corvette avoiding the police officers.  He slams the cases into the glass bubble of the Corvette and tears off down the wet freeway.  
    He manages to shake most of the rain from his hair but knew he was going to be in be trouble.  He completely forgot about the briefing when he saw the soda truck slam  the Lancer into the wall.  No question in his mind, the soda truck was doing well over eighty when the Triumph hydroplaned into the Lancer spinning it like a top and the soda truck slammed on the breaks and slid right into it.  It took all he had to keep from punching the arrogant soda truck driver.  He can’t believe Claire was as coherent as she was inside that smashed tin can.  She’s got angels with her today, for sure.  He shoots a smirk at the carrier, “And either you are a furry guardian angel, or you just lost a life.”  Even in cat language, Rance understood the mutterings.  He laughs, then sighs.  
    Rance knows he has to get focused.  This meeting with the higher command was going to be dicey as it was.  Then Shadow meows in the back of his car.  Oh no, what was he going to do with the cat?  He figured he would just pass it off onto Scotty or Nissan man.  But he had the cat now.  He couldn’t leave Shadow in his car.  He had no idea how long this meeting was going to go.  He glances at the clock.  He was really going to be pushing it.  
  
    He got raised eyebrows at the guard’s tower when the gates opened.  Not often they see a wet sailor in a torn uniform.  Even if they did recognize Rance’s Corvette.  
    He slides the car into a parking space, dashes around to the back and pops open the glass bubble.  He pulls out his own briefcase and then the cat carrier.  He tells Shadow, “Please be a good kitty.  My butt is riding on this.”  
    He comes to the door and slides his card key in dashing down the hall.  He manages to slip into his office.  The clock glares at him:  11:55  Oh crap.  He dashes next door and sees a Ensign.  Rance gives her his most charming smile, “Ensign Peters?”  She nods standing in front of the paper shredder.  He points to it, “I wonder if you could do me a really big favor.”  She looks at him skeptically with his wet and torn uniform.  He’s never asked her for anything.  
    “None of my shirts are going to fit you,” she warns him.  He can’t help but laugh at that one.  
    He shakes his head, “No, not that.  It’s long story, but there is a cat in my office.  It could really use a litter box and some tuna?  Have we got anything around here?”  
    “Petty Officer Brice?”  Rance can hear his commanding officer call his name.  He drops his head in resignation.  
    “And I have that briefing right now,”  he sighs.  
    She tilts a head at him in a friendly way, “Give it to me quick, what happened?”  
    “Cat was in a car accident on my way to work.”  He dashes back into his office.  He pitches his head over the trash can and tries to shake the rest of the glass out of his hair.  He stands up quickly when Chief Warrant Officer Mitchell walks into his office.  The ensign comes in behind him.  
    “Jeeze, Brice!  What does the other guy look like?”  His CO is clearly shocked.  
    Rance tries to look dignified in a wreaked uniform and scratches on his hands.  The ensign gives Rance a thumbs up.  He sighs outwardly.  “I’m sorry, sir.  But I made it.”  
    “Barely!  They are in the briefing room already.  Ready?”  the CO shakes his head.  
    Rance grabs his brief case, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”  He follows his CO out the door.  He turns back to the Ensign and gives her a thank you.  She just smiles.


	2. Chapter 2

Claire rides to the hospital with Scotty taking good care of her.  He’s got the I.V.’s going and typing info into the lap top.  Claire stays calm while he does his job.  He even holds her hand and gives it a squeeze.  
    The trip to the hospital is quick.  Before she knows it, she is being shuttled into an ER room.  Scotty plugs the lap top into the hospital computer and down loads her information.  Then he backs away letting the doctors do their job.  Then with a last smile, he is out the door.    
      Then it occurs to her, she’s alone.  Where is her cat?  Who was that sailor?  Scotty?  Only he knows where her cat went.  Drat!  
    The doctors begin asking her a whole bunch of questions.  She manages to give them answers.  Then the x-rays, the probing and then up to a room to stop her bleeding.  She goes out as they begin the surgery.  
  
    When she comes to, she is in a room with three other people.  A nurse comes in and sees she is awake.  “Hello dearie.  How are you feeling?”  
    Claire manages to smile, “Like I went through the rinse and spin cycle.  I’m not sure what was real.  Can you tell me?”  
    “Are you Claire Underwood?”  The nurse starts with.  
    “Last time I heard.’  The nurse doesn’t like her response.  “Yes, I am,”  Claire tries again.  “What happened?”  
    “Well, that’s what we need to find out.  The police also want a statement from you.  But not until the doctor says so.”  The nurse opens the file and goes down the list, “Alright, so you don’t have your ID with you.  Is there a way you can have someone bring it to you?”  
    “Um, that could be a problem.  I don’t know who has it.”  Claire tries to explain.  “A sailor took my portfolio and my cat.  My purse was in the portfolio.  I’m traveling on business and …”  Her voice gets a little wavered.  Her hands begin to shake and the tears come to her.  “I’m sorry.”  
    The nurse comes to her side and holds her hand., “It’s okay, dearie.  We will help you out.  It’s not the first time someone has come in from a car accident with nothing.  Who can we call?”  
    “I don’t know.  My agent just moved to Virginia and her new address and number were in my portfolio.  I just got off the plane, into the rental and was headed down the highway when I  got hit.  I had been off the plane less than an hour.”  
    “Where did you fly in from?”  The nurse is making notes.  
    “Bellingham, Washington.  Maybe I still had jet lag.  I don’t know.  All I know was that little red car nudged me and then the median wall was right there with a truck filling my cab.”  
    The nurse squeezes her hand, “Look dearie, don’t worry about that right now.  You have a few broken ribs, a nasty gash on your head, and your spleen had to be removed.  Your ankle was also broken.  You are going to be here for a few days.”  
    “But Shadow!  I need to find out where Shadow is.”  Her voice shakes.  
    The nurse tries to encourage her, “Okay, what can you tell me about this sailor.”  
    Claire closes her eyes and tries to think, “I couldn’t see his name tag.  I think it got torn off trying to help me.  He made a bunch of mermaid jokes.  He is really funny.”  
    The nurse smiles, “Okay so I’m looking for a very nice sailor who makes fish jokes.  I’m afraid you will have to narrow that down to the nearest thousand.  Especially here in Virginia.  We are pretty close to Annapolis.”  
    Claire can’t help but smile at that one.  “He knew Scotty the EMT who helped me.”  
    The nurse smiles, “Now we are getting some where.  I can call the ambulance service and find Scotty.  Certainly he will help us find your cat.”  
    Claire smiles, “Thank you.  I’m sure Shadow is worried what happened to me.”  
    The nurse laughs, “Are there any humans you want us to contact?”  
    “I should call my agent, but I don’t know her number.  I’m sure she is wondering what happened to me too.”  
    The nurse smiles.  “Let me see what I can do.  In the mean time, you rest.  We will get you out of here as soon as possible.  Are you up to talking to the police?”  Claire nods.  “Good, I’ll let them know.  Now sleep.  Catch up on that jet lag.”  Claire nods and the nurse leaves.  
    Claire feels like her head has been filled with soap suds.  She doesn’t find it hard to go to sleep.  But she has the weirdest dream about Shadow being a furry catfish, herself as a mermaid and seeing that friendly sailor looking out the porthole of his submersible.  
    She smiles, could be the makings of a new book.


	3. Chapter 3

Petty Officer Terrance Princeton Brice, the name glares up at him from his security ID.  He smiles, at least he didn’t end up with his sister’s name, Beverley  Yale or his older brother Dominic Harvard.  Yes, their parents had big plans for their children.  Much to their pacifist mother’s disappointment,  Rance had been accepted to the Navy’s design department.  He did not go to Princeton to become a high powered environmentalist lawyer.    
     But John Brice had quietly showed his pride to his son.  Janice would not attend his military graduation, but his father beamed proudly, and told him, “I should have known you would do great designing things because when you were a child and I couldn’t throw out a cardboard box for it was your new boat or something!”  His dad had always encouraged his creativity.  
    Rance sighs with a smile remembering that day.  But today he is walking into a briefing room.  The room is filled with oversight committee, commanders, an admiral, and many more  ranking officers.  Rance takes his seat beside his CO, a Chief Warrant Officer at the table.  Then the door is secured.  Rance tries once more to comb his hair into place with his hands.    
       Mitchell leans over, “Give up.  Just move forward.”  He smiles.  Rance smiles back at the support.  
    The flash comes on the screen and the meeting begins.  The other officers give their parts of the briefing.  Then CWO Mitchell turns begins his part.  Then he motions for Rance to do his part.  Rance stands up and approaches the screen but before he can even say a word, a Rear Admiral speaks out, “Petty Officer Brice, what is the meaning of this uniform?  This is a disgrace tot eh Navy!”  
    Rance turns to his CO for permission to speak.  Mitchell shoots him a look to be careful in his response.  Rance addresses the admiral, “I’m sorry sir, I didn‘t have a spare uniform.  There was a car accident on the way to work.”  
    “And your uniform?  How could you let it be disgraced?”  
    Rance takes a silent deep breath and then slowly states, “I pray that it wasn’t your daughter I stopped to assist today.  It was pretty bad.”  With that he turns to the screen and addresses his part of the meeting.  The Rear Admiral remains silent, with a silent prayer that it WASN‘T his daughter in a car accident.  
  
    When the meeting brakes for a couple hours later, and Rance is lead out of the room by Mitchell.  Mitchell shakes his head, “That was a close one with the Admiral.”  
    One of the Lieutenants comes to them, “Brice and Mitchell, I want to see those upgrades this week.”  They both nod.  Then the Lieutenant leans in, “This father is pleased to hear you stopped.  Next time, I’ll give you my shirt.”  
    Brice blushes and dips his head, “Thank you, sir.”  Then the Lieutenant nods and leaves.  A few more of the officers nod or smile to them as they pass ont ehir way to check their own messages.  
    Then the Admiral approaches.  Brice and Mitchell straighten up as he addresses them.  The Admiral looks directly at Mitchell, “I suggest you have a spare uniform for your personal from now on.”  
    “Yes sir,” is all Mitchell can respond and the Admiral leaves.  They take a big sigh.  Then they head back to their office area.  Mitchell walks into Rance’s work area.  Sitting in the window sill is a dark grey fluffy cat.  Tucked under his work station is a box of shredded paper and a couple paper bowls with food and water beside a damaged cat carrier.  Mitchell looks curiously at Rance.  
    Rance approaches the cat carefully who is watching the birds on the interior court yard lawn hunting the exposed earthworms.  He lets the cat sniff his fingers and then tenderly strokes the cat’s head.  The cat begins to purr loudly.  Rance turns to Mitchell, “Aw, Tony meet Shadow.  He was in that car accident today.”  
  
    Anthony Mitchell has known Rance for over a year.  A few times they have joined each other for lunch or dinner after long hard days.  Tony has even invited Rance over to his home for a family BBQs, but Rance has always turned them down.  Rance is a good sailor.  He follows the rules.  He doesn’t take even a rubber band from the office.  So for him to suddenly be barreling in almost late for the most important meeting of his career in a torn uniform, was unlike him.  Certainly, he knew Rance was a gentleman and would help a motorist in distress.  He’s done it before, but something was different.  Now he has a cat he snuck in the office?  
    Tony steps closer to him, “And how bad was the impact on your vehicle?”    
    Rance laughs straightening up, “Are you kidding?”  He points to the pouring rain.  “That fish I drive?  We somehow managed to glide through it.”  He rolls his eyes, “But it was a miracle!”  
    Tony points to the cat, “You better hope the Admiral doesn’t find out about Fuzzy.  Besides, what are you going to do with him?”  
    Rance shakes his head, “I don’t have a clue.  I haven’t had time to think about it.  I know we have deadlines today, and I will meet them, I promise you.”  
    “Whose cat is it?”  He reaches forward and Shadow lets Tony scratch him under the chin.  Shadow even leans into his knuckles.  Tony is a big softy, “Hey kitty, that doesn’t get you off the hook for being in an unauthorized area.”  The cat turns his chin and licks Tony’s hand using him as a washcloth.  “Okay, that might.”  
    Rance chuckles.  “I don’t really know.  But she looked like a mermaid.”    
    Tony chuckles, “And I suppose this is her pet catfish?”  
    Rance shakes his head.  Then he snaps his fingers with a thought.  He looks down at the cat carrier.  He looks it over carefully.  “I was hoping for a name on the carrier, but it looks like it got scratched off in the impact.”  Then he looks up smiling, “But, I have her portfolio in the back of my car.”  
    Tony’s cell beeps and he sighs. “Well, the cat owner mystery will have to wait.  We are wanted back in the briefing room.  But you better get that cat out of here when we leave tonight.  And remember what you were told during security training.”  
    Rance looks up at him curious, “What, the mermaid?”  
    Tony puts a tender hand on his shoulder, “Mermaid or Siren?”  
    Rance rolls his eyes, “Oh give me a break!  You have been watching too much NCIS or reading too many Jack Ryan books.  If she orchestrated that Lancer to hydroplane and managed to not get herself killed, I certainly want to date her!”  
    Tony shakes his head with a snicker. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you when you get placed in a confined brig.”  
    Rance shakes his head and follows Tony back to the conference room.  
~0~  
  
    After a few more hours of briefing and some of it pretty petty, Rance heads back to his office.  He has completely forgotten about the cat.    
       Rance settles down in front of his design computer with his vending machine snacks.  Just as he starts working, the grey fluff ball hops onto the desk beside the keyboard.  Rance leaps back with a cry nearly falling out of his chair, “Ahhhh!”  
    Ensign Peters pokes her head back into the room and giggles. “Oh forgot about Shadow, did you?”    
        Rance is trying to still his racing heart while Shadow calmly washes his face.  “Yeah.  Just a little bit.”  Rance manages to squeak out.  
    “Well, don’t forget to take him home with you tonight.”  Then she leaves with another laugh.  
    Rance sits back down and looks at the cat. “Did she put you up to that?  She still hasn’t forgiven me for putting the rubber spider in the copy machine.”    
      The cat just rubs his face on Rance’s chin.  Rance nuzzles him back.  “Alright , Fuzzy.  Give me a couple hours and then we will go home.”  Shadow folds himself down beside the monitor and starts purring.    
       Rance goes back to his notes.  Easier said than done.  Shadow was laying on them.  As Rance starts to pull them out, Shadow slams his paw down with the claws extended.  Rance stops quickly as the claws prick the paper.  “Bad kitty.’  He tries again to pull them out.  Shadow’s eyes go dark and the ears pitch forward in concentration.  The cat gets both paws ready for the game.  Rance groans, “No kitty, this isn’t play time.”  Shadow pounces again.  Rance stands up and lifts the cat off the paper.  He carefully sets the cat down in the window sill.  Then he returns to his chair.  Just as he sits down, the cat leaps back on top of his notes.  Rance picks up the cat again.  He sees the carrier under the table.  It takes Rance a good fifteen minutes to cram the cat into the carrier.  But now he is spent.  The cat is growling.  Clearly not happy.    
       Rance stares at Shadow, “I agree.  Lets go home.”  At that the cat pricks up his ears.  “Oh you know the word home.  Well, lets see what we can do.”  
        Rance closes down his computer and prepares to leave for the day.  He heads down to Tony’s office with the cat carrier.  Tony looks up to him, “Calling it quits?”  
    Rance nods, “Look, I’ll be in early tomorrow.  I think I’m just too fried right now.  This guy is getting anxious too.”  
    Tony tilts his head, “What are you going to do with it?”  
    Rance shrugs, “I guess I take him home with me.  I’ll call Scotty and find out where he took the owner.  From there I will figure something out.”  
    Tony laughs, “You are seriously going to that a cat to the boat?”  
    Rance leans in, “Are you going to take the cat?”  
    Tony waves his hands, “You know Bluto would eat a cat.”  
    Rance shrugs in defeat, “Then I have no choice.”  
    “What about Ensign Peters?”  Tony tries.  
    “Her roommate is allergic to them, remember?”  
    “I told you one day your do-gooding would get you into trouble.”  
    Rance heads towards the door with a last jab, “Hum, would you like to repeat that to Sarah?”  Tony laughs in return.  “Alright then, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”  
    “Just a reminder, we leave in six weeks.  Get that paper work in order.”  
    “Right-o.  Will do. Bye.”  And Rance heads out of the building.


	4. Chapter 4

Rance walks out to his car in the dripping rain.  It’s no longer pouring, but one of  those showers that looks like it will last a few hours.  Maybe even days.  He has to park quite a way from the building, Petty Officers normally do.  At least it is easy to point out his car in the sea of economy vehicles.  He has gotten quite a few comments about it.  Some compliments and a few scorns as well.  It certainly does turn heads.  He smiles as he approaches it.  She is quite a looker,  he smirks to himself.  
    He unlocks the passenger side of the 2004 ocean blue Corvette Stingray.  He puts his briefcase behind the passenger seat while putting the cat carrier on the floor in front.  Then he leans over and starts the engine, turning on the heat/defrost.  He can smell the moisture inside.  He’s going to have to look at the bubble seal again.  He knew the last time it was replace, it wasn’t down right.  Now with all this rain, it’s leaking for sure.  He shuts the passenger door and looks around the car wondering if anything had flown off those other cars and hit his during the car accident.  Pieces did go everywhere!   
    Rounding the front of the sports car, it always makes him smile.  Dom had done an awesome job.  The glittering bronze/brown stingray fish looks so real.  Like its just resting on top of the car.  The main body of the fish is on the hood with the eyes inline on either side of the engine hump.  The curve of the rear of the body over the roof, the points of the fins painted along the doors, with the tail painted straight down the back bubble.  The pointed spear perfect at the tip of the trunk. Rance touches the fish’s nose.  With the car wet from the rain, it just accents the fish even more.  His brother had painted it with love.  
    Ensign Peters comes out and dashes to her little beat up Honda a few spaces over from his car.  She smiles up at him, “I still don’t get it?  A Petty Officer who drives a sports car and lives on a yacht.  You know it raises eyebrows.”  
    Rance laughs, “Yeah, but when people look further they see, the car was an auctioned damaged repo and the boat isn’t mine, it makes sense.”  
    “Yeah, but how come you got so lucky baby sitting that yacht?”  
    He shrugs, “Sometimes it pays to help a stranded motorist.”  
    “Sure.  That’s not what you tell the girls at the bar.”  She teases him.  
    He smiles broadly, “No time for bars.  I’ve got Bible study tomorrow and choir practice on Thursday.”  
    She shakes her head, “I swear Rance, you aren’t for real.”  She waves and ducks into her car as a thunder clap is heard and the down pour begins again.  He jumps into his own car.  No point in getting too much more wet.  
    The car is getting warmer now and the cat meows to him.  Rance pulls his cell phone out of the center console.  He scrolls through his phone list on the phone and finds Scotty.  Then he pushes send.  The phone rings twice and goes to voice mail.    
       “Hey Scotty, that mermaid you fished out of the Lancer on the interstate this morning, where did you take her?  I’ve got her cat and have to figure out how to get it back to her.  Let me know how she is doing.  Thanks, bye.”  
    
    Then Race puts on his seat belt and heads out of the parking lot.  He nods to the guard and heads towards the yacht club on the coast.  He shakes his head as he makes the turn. “Yeah God, why am I blessed?  You know it’s enough to make a guy depressed that he gets so lucky while others are suffering.  Not that I’m complaining… too much.”  He laughs.  He knows God has a sense of humor.  Other wise how could he explain where his life has taken him so far?  
  
    He makes it almost to the yacht club, when his phone rings.  Quickly he slips on the ear piece, “You’re on the air with Rance,” he answers his phone.  
    “Look it space cadet….” Scotty warns him.  
    “Scotty!” Rance is so glad to hear from his friend.  “So how is it going?”  
    “Jiminey Crickets!  I’m grabbing a sub and a Jolt right now.  You have probably two seconds before you hear sirens.”  
    Rance laughs, “I’m sorry, Scotty.  That rough?”  
    Scotty slurps his drink, “It must be stupid driver day.  Or all the cars decided to take swimming lessons.”  
    Rance turns tender, “I’m glad you are out there today helping people.”  
    Scotty chomps down on his sandwich, “Yeah, well one car nearly took Dave and I out on the last call.  Dave’s changing his shorts right now.”  
    “I seriously doubt that.”  Rance retorts.  
    “After he had to dive over a hedge and rolled down a muddy embankment, while I dove under the ambulance as a car slid right past us doing eighty through a flare zone.  Yeah, we were both introduced our guardian angels. Dave‘s is named Bushby and mine goes by Dustin.”  
    Rance sighs heavily, “Wow!”  The silence leaves them both saying quiet praises to God for their safety.  
    Scotty takes another swallow of his energy drink.  “I’m sorry, Rance, why did you call me again?”  
    “Scotty, do you  remember the girl you pulled from Lancer with me?  Brunett in a dress with ocean creatures on it.”  
    “Oh yeah, Claire.  Nice lady.  I think she’s a artist of some kind.  She had paint on her fingers.  I helped her scrub some of it off.”  
    Rance smiles, “Sounds like an interesting lady.  Where did you take her?”  
    “Memorial.”  
    “How is she?”  
    “You know I shouldn’t tell you that.”  Scotty warns him.  
    “Scotty, I’ve got her cat.  How long should I plan on keeping the animal?”  
    “She had internal bleeding, cracked ribs and her ankle looked pretty bad.  But other than that, pretty good.”  
    “Do you have any other information?”  
    “Not off the top of my head.  Hold on, I’ve got a call coming in over the radio.”  
    “Go.  I won’t keep you.  Take care, Scotty.”  
    “Don’t ask me to scrape you off the pavement.  Got it?”  
    “Yes, sir.”  Rance gives him his best vocal salute.  Scotty just laughs back at him and then disconnects the phone.  Rance glances down at the cat, “Well Shadow, looks like we will be roomies for a while.   Hope you like fish.  I certainly do.”  The cat only answers with a questioning meow.  
  
    Rance comes up to the next light and makes a u-turn.  He decides to head over to the all-night grocery store.  “You need a litter box.  I can’t have you messing up the boat.  Deal?”  The answer comes back as a rumbling purr.  Rance parks the car and then turns around.  He finds a windbreaker stuffed under his brief case.  He manages to tug it on and then gets out of the car.  He feels muggy and his damp uniform is sticking to his skin.  It’s been a very bizarre day.    
       Swiftly he heads into the grocery store and grabs a cart.  Just as quickly he heads to the pet aisle and finds a litter box, sand and kitty crunchies.  Then he rounds the aisle and sees the sourdough bread bowls  His stomach growls making the hand instantly reach out and grab one,  then heads towards the canned goods and finds his favorite canned stew.  This weather has left him in no mood for cooking tonight.  Nuke and serve is what it will have to be tonight.    
         He heads to the check out line and sees a bag of his favorite saltwater taffy tied with ribbons.  Grinning he gets two small bags.  The most adorable blown glass fish catch his eye.  It’s supposed to be one of those trinkets you hang from your rearview mirror.  But he knows it would make a perfect pendant.  The check out is quick and he dashes back to his car.  Carefully he shoves the groceries into the glass bubble and ducks back into the driver’s seat.  
    “Come on Shadow, lets go see Claire.”  Shadow gives him a perky meow at his owner’s name.  
    Well, that was easier said than done.  Scotty was right, it was swimming lesson day on the roads.  Traffic is a nightmare.  Somebody has gone off the edge and into the drainage canal.   So the four lane road was down to one.  Rance notices its Scotty covered in mud again hauling the rescue basket up the side.  He wasn’t kidding about how bad it is today!  All Rance can do was say a prayer for Scotty and his patients while he finally passes him.  
      
  
    By the time Rance gets to the hospital, its seven o’clock.  At the main entrance and the front desk is pretty easy to find.  A bag of saltwater taffy with the glass fish tied to the ribbon balanced on his palm,  he smiles to the receptionist, “Hello, I wondered if you could help me.”  
    The lady smiles to him with a gleam in her eye.  Yes, she is attractive, but he knew better than to flirt.  He’s had his own heart broken by one too many pretty faces who only saw a uniform.  He won’t be turned that easily again.  Besides, he is under strict orders about dating right now.  But there is no point in being rude.  She turns on her charm, “Sure, how can I help?”  
    He keeps himself at a friendly, yet professional stance.  “Earlier this morning a woman came in who was in a car accident.”  
    The friendly desk clerk frowns seeing he is hear for someone specifically female. “We’ve had a lot of car accidents today.”  
    “Yeah, that’s what Scotty said.”  Rance admits.  She looks at him more curiously.  But he stays on task, “Her first name is Claire.  An artist.  She was driving a rented white Lancer.”  
    The clerk starts looking through the computer but asks hopefully, “I take it your aren’t family?”    
    Rance laughs lightly, “Ah, no.  I helped the ambulance crew and I wanted to check on her.”  
    “You know personal information can’t be released to non-family members, right?”  She tries to warn him.  
    He nods, “Yeah, I know.”  
    “And that it’s past visiting hours.”  
    “Nuts.  I was afraid of that.”  He frowns.  
    The clerk looks up at him and smiles.  “I think I found her.  Is that for her?”  Rance nods.  “Here’s what I can do, I can have it delivered to her room.”  
    Rance beams.  Then he fumbles through his pockets.  Nothing.  He smiles back at the clerk while she hands him a pad of paper and a pen.  Rance thinks for a moment and then jots down a message with a smirk to himself.  Then he rolls it up and tucks it into the ribbon and turns back to the clerk. “Thank you so much.  You have been a life saver.”  
    The clerk takes the gift, “I’m glad I could be of help.  Be careful out there.”      Rance nods, “You too.”  And with that he heads back out to his car.  
    Shadow is starting to get squirmy in his crate.  “I know buddy.  Let’s get home.”


	5. Chapter 5

   Another thirty minutes on road and he finally gets his fish car parked at the yacht club.  He looks down at his bundles and wonders if he can make this in one shot.  Not a chance.  Something would end up in the harbor.  Rance grabs the cat carrier and the  littler box supplies for the first trip.  The rain is still coming down in showers, but the wind isn’t so bad.  So the boats don’t look like they are rocking too bad.  He lifts the crate to his face, “Hey Shadow, I hope you don’t get sea sick.”  The meow that comes back sounds more like a question than anything.  Rance laughs and heads down the first gang plank and then makes a turn to the right.  There she is.  
Erryol Siren  
    A beautiful Huckins’  50 foot Sportsman yacht.  She has the standard dark black around her water line.  But above the water line she is a sky blue.  She is a cruiser and a diving boat.  Captain Henderson might be a Navy man, but not big on sport fishing.  
    Rance quickly  hops on board and opens the wood framed sliding glass door, then heads below deck.  Quickly he sets up the litter box and opens the crate for the cat.  The cat immediately goes for the sandbox.  Rance could swear he heard Shadow say, “Ahhhh.”    
         He chuckles.  “Sorry for the wait kitty.  Now don’t do anything bad or we are both fish food.”  He sets up a bowl of water for the cat and then heads back to his car for the rest of his gear.  
    When he returns, he finds Shadow has found himself a place in the little curved window to look out over the ocean.  He doesn’t seem to mind the slight rocking of the boat.  Rance gives the cat a scratch behind the ears and he purrs leaning into the fingers.  “I hope Claire is going to be alright.  I’m sure Scotty did his best.  We will see about trying to see her tomorrow.  Alright?”  The cat closes his eyes.  It looks like today’s adventure has taken it’s toll on the cat too.  
    Rance heads over and changes into his favorite flannel jammies and a t-shirt that says “Denver Experimental Aircraft Club.”  After warming up his stew, making some hot tea he takes the bread bowl and settles down by the large glass doors.  He watches the rain come down on the deck.  The warm stew seems to sooth him right down and he can feel his muscles starting to relax.     
        Finally he gives up and just sets the bowl on the floor.  He will deal with cleaning it tomorrow before he goes to work.  But right now, his eyes have called it quits for the night.  
    He makes it to the head and removes his contacts.  The world may have gone blurry, but the tension seems to have released from his brain.  The bunk is looking so good right now.  Rance slides under the fleece blankets and sighs.  Reaching up, turns out the light, closes his eyes, and  silently says his prayers.  Then he lets the gentle roll of the water rock him to sleep.    
         Sleep hasn’t claimed him very long when he feels the rumbling next to his chest.  He lifts his head and sees Shadow has curled up between his chest and the wall.  Rance weaves his fingers into the cat’s fur.  The cat must be missing Claire pretty bad.  He feels sorry for the cat and the cat nudges his hand.    
          “What do you need kitty?”  The cat pushes his nose to the blanket edge.  Rance lifts the corner and the cat crawls in and settles himself right next to his chest.  Rance drops the blanket down letting the rumbling warm fuzz ball make himself content.  He smiles, “Hey, this is pretty nice.  I could get used to this.”  The cat and Rance fall back to sleep.  
  
~0~  
    The morning alarm clock goes off and Rance groans.  The cat is next to his water bowl meowing.  Blurry eyed, Rance grasps for his emergency glasses next to the alarm clock.  The cat gets more insistent.  He actually begins yowling.  “Alright, alright.  I hear you.”  Rance swings his legs out of the bunk and drops to the floor.  He gets another bowl and some kibble for the kitty. Shadow’s motor starts going again with his nose buried into the bowl.  Rance rubs his hands through his hair, “You can actually eat and purr at the same time?  You creatures are amazing.”  
    While he gets dressed in a clean uniform, Rance glances up and sees there has been a break in the storm.  The clouds are scattered and the sunlight streams though some of the broken pieces.  Taking his bowl of instant oatmeal, hot tea and banana to the deck, he wipes off a bench and settles down for morning devotionals with breakfast.    
        Normally he would have done one and then the other, but he promised Tony to be in early.  Shadow trapezes out to the deck into a puddle.  He shakes the water off his paws looking for dry places to step.  There aren’t many.  The cat gives up and goes back to the dry doorway, settling to just look out the door.  His nose is working overtime smelling the salt air.  Rance finishes up his devotionals and stows his Bible and notebook in the small desk.  Then he cleans up last night and this morning’s dishes and gets dressed.  
    He kneels down to the cat.  “Look it Shadow, I don’t know how long you will be here.  But here are the rules:  This isn’t my boat.  So no tearing up the furniture.  Don’t chew on anything important.  Help your self to the windows.  I’ll leave one cracked so you can smell the fresh air.  I know this place needs to be aired out.  But don’t make a mess.  Got it?”  The cat rubs his face in Rance’s.  Then he grabs his briefcase and secures the sliding glass door.  
  
    The commute to work this morning is a lot smother.  Certainly getting out before the regular traffic hit the freeway helped.  He makes the trip in an easy amount of time and easily slides into a parking space and heads into the secured building.    
    Today he is a lot more focused and quickly dives into to work.  His prayers for focus has already helped today.  
  
~~0~~  
    Down at  Memorial Hospital, Claire is waking up to the pain medication wearing off.  “Ugh,” she groans trying to get comfortable. The morning nurse comes in for her rounds.  “Good morning, Claire.  How do you feel?”  
    “Are you sure they removed the truck from my chest?”  
    The nurse can’t help but smile.  “I think so.  How bad does it hurt?”  
    “I certainly can feel those cracked ribs.  I feel like I got punched in the gut.  But the ankle doesn’t hurt that bad.  Well, compared to the rest of me.”  
    The nurse takes a look at her chart.  “I think it might be time for some more pain meds.  I’ll check with the doctor about food.  Take it easy, alright?”  
    She nods.  “I’ll be right here when you get back.”  
    The nurse pats her hand, “Good idea.”  Then the nurse leaves.  Claire sighs heavily.  She is going to go nuts stuck in a hospital bed.  It wouldn’t be so bad sleeping, but she knows she has to make contacts.  She has to reach her agent.  What about Shadow?  Is the cat safe with the Navy guy?   
    Claire looks around the room.  The plastic bag of colored candy sitting at her bedside catches her eye.  Very carefully she reaches for it.  Oh did that hurt.  But reading the note made it all worth while:  
    Mermaid Claire,  I am enjoying Shadow’s company.  Give me a call when you are up to visitors and we will beam in.  Space Cadet Rance.  
    And he left his cell phone number.  She smiles.  The glass fish on the package twinkles in the morning sun light.  What a sweet guy to drop off gift and let her know her best friend is alright.    
       Yesterday, has been total upheaval of  emotions.  The kindness of strangers, the long screwy flight, and to finish it of with a bang- literally.  Now this sweet man has left her a gift of saltwater and a glass fish.    
    The nurse returns with the pain medication.  She sees the tears, “Are you alright?”  
    Claire holds up the gift, “The sailor who stopped for me, and saved my cat.  He left this for me.”  
    Then nurse puts the medication into the IV and smiles.  “Yeah, Marty down at the front desk said he was pretty cute.”  
    Claire fingers the fish, “He’s pretty funny too.  Kept me from freaking out.”  
    The nurse touches her hand, “Sounds like your guardian angles were on duty yesterday.”  
    Claire shakes her head, “You have no idea!  We were late yesterday because as our first plane was pulling away from the gate, the engine failed.  We hadn’t even made it to the taxi way.  Made for a long day, but oh well.  We all arrived in one piece.”  The nurse is amazed.    
    She puts the phone into Claire’s lap.  “Why don’t you call that sailor?”  Claire smiles.  The nurse closes the door on the way out the door.    
    Claire calls the number on the note.  It goes to voice mail, “You’ve reached Terrance.  Now we all are in deep water.  When I surface, I’ll call you back.  Beeeep.”  
    Claire smiles, “Hey space cadet.  Thanks for the fish.  Can you bring me my briefcase so I reach my agent. I’m sure she’s freaking out and I’m not sure how long I’ll be here.  The phone says I’m at 201 D.  Thanks for taking Shadow.  Bye.”    
      And she hangs up.  She settles back.  She can feel the pain medication pulling her eyelids down.  
  
  
~~  
    When Rance finally takes a break for lunch, he goes out to his car.  A message is blinking on his cell phone.  Claire’s message.  He will have to make sure he gets out of work in time for visiting hours this time.  Zipping through lunch he gets those modifications done.  By the time he gets done he looks up at the clock, and see he has just enough time to make it home to get the briefcase and get back to the hospital in time for visiting hours!  
    Rance dashes back to the yacht club.  He wasn’t expecting to see Shadow balled up in his pile of dirty clothes.  The cat has pulled all the clothes out of his hamper.  “You are going to need some toys to keep you out of trouble, I can see.”  He shakes his head.  But with a glance to the clock he can’t mess around for long.  Quickly he grabs Claire’s portfolio.  He knew it would be safer on the boat than in the damp environment of his car.  He gives the cat a last pet and dashes out.  
  
~~~  
    Rance finds a space at the hospital and hurries inside.  This time he takes the elevator to the second floor.  At the nurses station directly in front of the elevator he gets directions to  Claire’s room.  
    Coming to the door of Claire’s room, he is surprised to see Scotty with his red haired four year old daughter in his arms.  She sees Rance and squeals, “Rance!”   She practically leaps from Scotty’s arms to get to him.  Rance kneels down to accept the little girl’s hug.  
    “Hey Sydney.  What’cha doing here?”  He lifts the girl up and glances over at Scotty.      
    Scotty smiles and holds a hand out to Claire bandaged in bed. “Do you know who we have here?”  
    Rance comes to the bedside with Sydney.  “A mermaid?”  Claire blushes at their joke.  
    Sydney shakes her head.  “Claire lives with Shadow.”  Rance gives her a confused look.  “You know, Shadow’s Boxes?”  Rance looks to Scotty for help.  
    Scotty helps his friend out, “All the books about the grey cat Sydney keeps handing you to read.”  
    “Oh.”  Rance nods.  Then it dons on him and he turns back to Claire, “OH!”  He realizes he is standing in front of a famous author.  He blushes, “I’m so sorry.  I feel like such a ditz.”  
    She laughs lightly, “It’s okay.  By the way, I’m Claire Waters.”  She holds a hand out.  Rance lowers Sydney to the floor and switches the portfolio to his other hand, extending his right to take hers.  
    “Hi Claire.  I’m Rance Brice.”  
    She smiles, “Glad to meet you, Rance.  How is Shadow?”  
    “Content for the moment.  I left him alone at my place while I went to work today.  He unloaded my laundry basket.  But nothing else bad.  I gave him Kitty Kibbles.  Is that okay?”  
    Claire smiles, “Shadow is a very good traveler.  He should be fine.  I have to admit, he hasn’t ever stayed with anyone other than myself or my agent Kelah.”  
    Rance holds up the portfolio, “ I’ll do my best and I brought this, like you asked.  My trunk leaks, but I didn’t open your case.  Now I wish I had to see if anything needed to be dried out.”  She cringes and tries to sit up quickly.  Then she gasps at the pain.  Both Scotty and Rance try to come to her aid,  but she lays back and sighs.  
    “Well that was dumb,” she groans.  She rests for a moment and then this time lets the bed lift her into a better position.  Scotty rolls the tray table out of the way.  Rance helps her open the portfolio/briefcase and  they all look through it.  Sydney is delighted to see what Shadow’s next adventure is going to be.  Claire isn’t upset to share it with the little girl.  She is pleased to see her young audience truly delighted with her work.  
  
    After a good ten minutes, they determine that nothing was damaged between the car accident and Rance’s car.  She extracts her zipped wallet.  Inside is her Blackberry.  It is also in one piece, with a ton of messages from her agent.  
    Scotty looks down at Sydney, “Honey, I think we should let Claire get some rest, okay?”  Sydney looks a little disappointed.  
    Claire smiles at her young reader. “Sydney, do you think you could come see me tomorrow?  I need some ideas for Shadow’s next adventure.”  
    Sydney beams, “Sounds like Shadow is on one right now.  Especially if he is living on Rance’s boat right now.”  
    Claire looks up at Rance curiously.  Rance shrugs, “Ah, I’m a Navy guy.  What do you expect?”  
    “Don’t tell me he is actually on a military boat?  Won’t your  commanding officer be mad?”  
    Rance laughs, “No, no.  I’m not stationed on a boat right now.  I’m at a base.  I’m just babysitting a boat right now.  That’s what Sydney means. Shadow doesn’t seem sea sick.”  Claire seems relieved the cat won‘t end up in the brig.  
    Scotty turns to Rance, “Hey, I’ll see you tonight, right?”  
    Rance scratches his head, “I hope so.  So far I think so.”  
    “Do you want to meet for dinner first?”  
    Rance shakes his head, “That’s not going to happen.  I’ll be lucky to make it on time.  Hold me a space on the end.”  
    Scotty laughs and scoops up his daughter.  “Okay Claire, I’ll have Sarah bring Sydney down sometime tomorrow.  I’ll probably be at work.  I am glad to meet you.”  
    “Thanks Scotty.  Sydney, it was a pleasure to meet you.”  Claire waves to them both.  Scotty gives Rance a secret look at he passes.  Rance shoots him an annoyed look back.  Then he turns back to Claire.  
    “Well, looks like you need to get a hold of your agent.  I’ll leave you some privacy.  Shadow is welcome to stay with me as long as you like.  What should I entertain him with?”  
    “A wad of paper.  He is constantly digging through my trash can for my trashed sketches.  That’s probably why he chose the laundry basket.  Watch your pencils.  He has a tendency to chew on them.”  She tries to get the drawings back into the portfolio.  Rance helps her straighten them up and replace them.  She settles back and lets him take over.  “So how do you know Scotty?”  
    “Church choir.”  
    She looks as him surprised.  “Really?”  
    “Yeah, really.  We also have men’s Bible study on Tuesday nights.  Well, when either one of us can be there.  We also have a firefighter, state police officer, someone I think from the Fed’s …even though he doesn’t say so.  So we all kind of understand when we are there and then gone for a few weeks or such.  Needless to say things stay strictly confidential.”  
    She gives him a curious look, “And what do you do, beside fish for mermaids?”  
    He laughs.  “I design boats.”  
    “No way!”  She is shocked.  
    “Well, yeah.  Somebody has to figure out how to arrange the kitchens efficiently when you build a new boat for a couple hundred sailors.  How big do you make the cabinets to store enough mixing bowls and such.”  
    She nods at his explanation, “Yeah, I guess that’s true.  I never thought of it that way before.  Do you like it?”  
    He smiles, “I really do.  I would much rather be working on the hull designs, but as a lowly Petty Officer, you do what they give you.  I’ve been designing boats since I was little.  Of course when I was little, they were all made out of milk cartons, soda bottles, soap bottles and what ever else was going to be thrown out.”  
    Claire smiles picturing Rance as a little boy building boats to sail in the bath tub.  “And what does your family think about what you are doing now?”  
    He sighs heavily. “My sister thinks it’s great.  My dad is glad I can provide for myself.  My brother thinks it’s cool.”  
    There’s a pause before Claire carefully asks the next question, “And your mother?”  He turns his back to her and looks out the window over looking the nearby park.  Claire fells bad, “Look, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to pry.”  
    “It’s okay.”  He gives himself a few minutes to get his thoughts together.  Then he turns to her and smiles warily, “Mom’s a devout pacifist.”  
    “Oh,” Claire says very quietly feeling the tension between mother and son.  
    Rance shrugs his shoulders.  “We find other stuff to talk about.”  
    The silence falls again.  But before either one has to figure out what to say, Claire’s blackberry rings again.  This time she answers it.  
    “Hello Kelah.  Yeah, I know.  Calm down… let me explain.  Kelah, breath.  Now give me just a moment.  I’ll be right with you.  Yes I’m fine.  I’m going to put the phone down for just a moment.”  Claire rolls her eyes.  Rance suppresses a giggle.  She tells him, “Can you keep the portfolio?  I don’t think it should be left here.  I’ll call you as soon as I figure what Kelah and I are going to do.”  
    Rance picks up the portfolio, “That sounds fine with me.  I don’t mind.  Get some rest.  Shadow and I will be fine.”  He reaches over and gives her hand a squeeze.  She smiles up at him gratefully.    
    Rance can hear her return to her agent on the phone. “Kelah, I was in a car accident just after I left the airport.  I got separated from my carry all and Shadow.  No, both are fine now.  I was rescued by a sailor and his EMT friend.”  Rance blushes as he leaves the room.


	6. Chapter 6

    As soon as Rance leaves the hospital room, Claire give her agent all her attention.  “Look Kelah, I’m down at Memorial Hospital in room 201.  Come see me.  Then we can figure out what we are going to do.  Alright.  Take it easy.  I’m not going anywhere.  Bye.”  
    Claire closes up the phone and lays her head back.  With out looking, she powers down the cell phone.  Maybe it’s a good thing for Rance and Kelah to contact her.  But the bad part is that Kelah can bug her mercilessly.  The pain meds kick in.  Claire is soon back to sleep.  
  
    A couple hours later, Claire wakes up to a warm hand on her arm and the scent of Chanel #5.  Claire smiles without opening her eyes,  “Hi, Kelah.”  
    Kelah settles into the chair at her side.  “Oh honey, I’m sorry you are alone.”  
    Claire laughs and waves her hand around the room, “Trust me.  I’m not alone.”  Just then the nurse comes in and checks her vitals.    
    Kelah smiles at the nurse, “How is she doing?  Is there anything I can do to make things easier for Claire?”  
    The nurse smiles and as Claire gives her the help me look.  The nurse pats Kelah’s hand on Claire’s arm.  “She’s doing just fine and exactly what the doctor ordered.  Resting, not over exerting herself and taking her medication.  She should be home soon enough.”  
    Kelah sits back and sighs.  Then the nurse goes to her next patient.  Claire smiles carefully at her friend and agent.  Kelah sits back in the chair, setting her Coach purse on the floor.  Kelah is in her early sixties, bathes in Chanel #5, and looks after each of her clients like they were her own children.  Claire knows she is blessed.  She’s heard horror stories of other agents who are just out for the money and constantly harassing their clients for more work.  Not Kelah.  If a publisher pushes and author, Kelah reminds them they are dealing with a God-given talent.  No one rushes God.  
    Now on the other hand, if a client is burning out or just flat out being lazy, Kelah knows how to motivate them too.  Is it that they need to switch to a new series of characters?  Do they need a sabbatical?  Do they just need to quit?  Or do they need to get their head out of the bottle or the bums out of their lives and get back to work?  Kelah can move or kill your career.  Kelah will support you or crush you.  
  
    Claire reaches for Kelah’s hand with a tear in her eye.  Kelah presses Claire’s hand between hers.  Then Claire looks over at her friend.  Her supportive surrogate mother.  Kelah has her head bowed and Claire can hear her soft prayers of thanks giving and healing.  The tears come gushing from both of them.  Then they look at each other and laugh.  Kelah starts looking around for the Kleenex.  Claire just uses the corner of her blanket.  
    “I’m sorry about the book signing.”  
    “Oh don’t worry.  The reason I was late getting here is because I was contacting the book store.  At first he was upset.  He thought we stood him up.  But when I explained you were in a car accident, he was falling all over himself apologizing.  In the end we had a good laugh.  He said he would put a sign up right away and would be sure to let all the children know Shadow is just fine, too.”  
    Claire laughs, “He’s probably going to get more cards than me!”  
    Kelah joins her laugh, “Probably!”  They take a good sigh and enjoy the presence of each other.  “So tell me, what are your plans?”  
    Claire shrugs, “I haven’t a clue.  I’m not even sure how long I will be here.”  
    “Do you want me to take Shadow?”  
    “Yeah probably.  I’ve got to try getting a hold of Rance so you two can meet.  I wonder if there’s anyway I could see Shadow while I‘m stuck in here.”  
    Kelah digs through her purse and gets her pad out, “That’s a great idea.  Let me see if Shadow can make a trip to the children’s ward.  I hear a book coming on!”  
    Claire smiles, “You should have been an author.”  
    “Are you crazy?  I have no imagination.  Where would I come up with any ideas what to write about?  You know the only reason I do this is to read everybody else’s work.  I haven‘t one bright idea in this head of mine!”  She stands up and picks up her purse, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to make a trip to the head of pediatrics.”  
    Claire reaches out to her, “Not yet you don’t.”  Kelah comes back to her side and kisses her forehead.  “Thanks, Kelah.”  
    “Get some sleep, sweetheart.  I’ll bring your kitty to you soon enough.”  
    And with a puff of perfume, Kelah was out the door asking directions to the pediatrics ward.  
    Claire smiles at her blessings, “Thank you Lord.”  
  
~0~  
    Rance has to head back to the office at Mitchell’s urgent phone call.  Apparently the modifications another team made weren’t correct and now Mitchell and Rance have to clean it up.  By the time Rance looks up at the clock, choir practice had been over with a good three hours.  Rance can feel his contacts burning onto his eyeballs.  He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose.  
    “Tony, I’ve got to go home. I’ve told you before, I’m still getting used to these contacts and if you are going to keep me focused this long you have to warn me.”  
    Tony closes down the computer, “And I told you to stuff your glasses into that fish of yours.”  
    “Ugh.  You sound worse than my mother.”  
    “That’s our job as CO’s… make you wish you were back home.”  
    Rance stands up reaching for his coat, “Good night, Tony.”  
    Tony chuckles and grabs his own coat.  Together they walk out to the parking lot.  “So how are you and the cat getting along?”  
    “Well, it hasn’t been that long and I haven’t been home much.  He did unload my laundry basket.  Poor creature.  I hope he doesn’t die from the stench of my socks.”  Tony laughs heartily.  “How do you get away with staying out late and not getting grief from Jordan?”  
    Tony holds up his branded hand, “Vows.  They are sacred.”  
    Rance nods towards some of the other cars in the parking lot, “You know there are many who don’t keep them.  Or change their minds.”  
    “Not Jordan and I.”  Tony is very serious.    
    Rance lowers his head, “I hope someday I will find someone as devoted as Jordan.”  
    “I hope you do too.  You‘re a good guy, Terrance.”  They reach their cars.  Tony turns to him, “Why don’t you take tomorrow off.  We will pull a long one on Saturday instead.”    
           Rance nods in acceptance.  His brain could really use a day off.  
    Heading over to his car, he sees there’s a message on his cell phone.  He pulls it up:    
      _“Hello Rance, first off, I’m sorry for anything Kelah does or says to you.  She’s like a second mother to us authors.  I gave her your number so you two can make arrangements for Shadow.  She’s going to take care of both of us for awhile.  And Rance, I don’t know what your faith is, but I know God had his hands on us yesterday.  One of us should have died or gotten off far worse.  Alright, good night.”_ And the message ends.  
    Rance has to freeze.  Faith.  She is a believer, but what kind of faith does she have?  Oh he would really like to talk to her.  Tony gets into his car parked next to the ’Vet.    
         Rance sighs heavily and looks up to the sky asking God, “I know you have a sense of humor but this isn’t funny any more.  This is bordering on cruel.  And I know you aren’t a cruel God, so please just drop me a hint what you are up to.  Please, just a hint?”  But Rance hears no reply.  Not even a heavenly snicker.  Rance tries once more, “Ah ha, playing the wait and see answer.  You know, I really like the yes or no answers better.  More cut an dried, no guessing.”  And Rance continues into his car.  
  
~~  
    Sliding the car into his parking space at the dock he just sits for a moment.  Just beyond the harbor is a whole different world.  The deep sea filled with the most magnificent creatures.  Humans are so puny compared to many of God’s creatures.  But humans are the most complex.    
       Not too far to the north of this harbor is proto type carrying part of his labors.  Not just his, but a whole team of designers like himself.  And in six weeks he will be going out with them too if the fruits of his labor is all the Navy hoped for.  He was one of the few designers picked to go out of the hundreds who actually worked on this baby.  He’s a very blessed man and he knows it.    
      He bows his head, “I’m sorry God.  I don’t mean to be ungrateful.  You know I really am.  Thank you for all the blessings you have given me.  Can you just help me understand?  I just need a little insight.  For all my blessings, I’m a little lost on direction.  Thanks, God.”    
    He gathers his things and heads down to the boat and steps into the cabin lit only by a single light in the kitchen.  Locking the door behind him, he can hear the thump of the cat jumping down from something high and the soft meow welcoming him home.  He kneels down and picks up the cat snuggling him close.  Clearly by Shadow’s reaction this is the kind of affection Claire gives him at homecoming.  The motor in the cat’s belly rumbles loudly.    
    While preparing dinner for both of them, his phone rings.  He answers the unknown number carefully, “Hello?”  
    The lady sounds very motherly, “Oh hello, is this Rance?  Did I say that right?”  
    Rance laughs, “Yes, it’s Rance.  Short for Terrance.”  
    She sighs with relief, “Oh, I see.  First of all, thank you so much for saving my Claire.”  
    He laughs, “Now you have me confused with Scotty.  He’s the medic.”  
    “Pshaw!  You aren’t getting off that easy, Sir Galahad.”  She chides him.  Rance just laughs at the though of being a modern day knight.  “So, how is our little Shadow doing?”  
    “Well, let’s see.  Shadow, you have a phone call.”  He puts the phone where the cat can hear Kelah’s voice.  She gives the cat a bunch of baby-talk advice.  The cat meows back once or twice and rubs up against the phone letting her hear him purr.    After a couple moments, Rance takes the phone back, “How does his sound?”  
    Kelah laughs, “You know, you could be just what Claire needs.  Are you seeing anyone?”  
    Rance blushes at her forwardness, and decides to make things a little clearer, “Just Uncle Sam.”  Kelah laughs heartily.  Rance finds himself joining her laugh and glad she understands.  
    Then Kelah decides it’s time to get down to business, “So how would you like to unload the fur ball.”  Shadow heard that and yowls at her insinuation.    
    Rance can’t help but smirk. “Well, I guess that would be up to him.”  
            “I’m going to be taking Claire home with me for a while to finish recuperating and I figured it would do both Shadow and Claire good to be back together.”  
             Even though he hasn’t spent much time with the cat, or Claire for that matter, he knows he will miss them both. Shadow is his only connection to the Mermaid named Claire.  
         Kelah notices the other end of the line has gone rather quiet. “Hey, Rance are you alright?”   
          He clears his throat and lets Shadow down onto his bunk. “Yeah, just putting Shadow down. I agree with you that Shadow should get back to Claire as soon as he can.”  
          “You know, I was talking to the Hospital Pediatric Ward today, and Shadow is a pretty famous guy. They said he was welcome to come visit.  Would you be available tomorrow by any chance?  If not, I could come by your place and pick him up.”  
           “I could meet you at the hospital.  There’s no need for you to come all the way down here, I‘m free all day. It would be kind of neat to see how the kids react to seeing him.”  
          “And Claire.  She would love to see them interacting with their favorite little guy too.  I understand you have her portfolio too?”  
        He nods even though she can’t see this.  “Yeah, I can bring that, too.”  
        “Good, sounds like a plan.  I’ll meet you in the pediatric wing at nine then and figure things out after that?”  
        “Sounds good,” he sighs watching Shadow give himself a bath.  
         “And Rance, thank you very much for taking him and her work so she doesn’t worry. Art is very important to an artist. They put their souls into it and if something happens… well.  I guess not everyone would understand.”  
         To that he has to give an amused chuff.  There’s a whole set of designs he has to go over and correct that people didn’t approve, yet someone poured their time and energy into. “I understand more than you would think.  We will see you tomorrow. Good night.”  
      “Good night,” Kelah tells him and then closes the line.  
       Rance sets his phone to charge and gets himself ready for bed.  Then with a cat in his lap, and a bowl of warm clam chowder in his bowl, they settle back for a tv show.  Both of them fall asleep in the chair before the show is over though.


End file.
